Sunset

 
Sunset on Kitt Peak. The Spacewatch 36 inch dome is in the foreground with the Steward Observatory 90 inch Bok telescope dome and the 4-m Mayall telescope dome in the background as the sun dips
below the horizon to start another night of observing. This exposure was 1/125 seconds at f/4.5, ISO 400 with my 24mm lens attached to my Canon 20D. 

Spacewatch 36"

 
This image was sort of an accident. I was setting up to take a timelapse sequence, taking an exposure to check the framing and so on, but I had been playing around with B&W mode earlier in the day, so this shot was taken in B&W mode. I cropped it significantly (about 1/3 of the original frame) in order to "focus" on just this dome. The image was taken with my 24mm lens on my 20D. The exposure was 30 seconds at f/1.8, ISO 1600. 

WIYN telescope & Canopus

 
This image was taken Sunday morning from Kitt Peak and shows the WIYN telescope near center and the old 36 inch telescope of Kitt Peak at left. Just above the left part of the WIYN building is the southern hemisphere star Canopus near its transit. Faint clouds are visible in the sky as well (and it was windy that night too!). This image was taken with my 24mm lens attached to my 20D. The exposure was 30 seconds at f/1.8, ISO 1600. 

Meteor and clouds

 
I set the camera up Saturday morning while we struggled to observe through the clouds and wind and got a time-lapse sequence (I'll have to make the avi file I made from that available someplace, but it's 44MB in size!). One of the early frames caught this meteor. The clouds and dome are lit by the rising crescent moon and city lights. This image was taken with my 24mm lens on my 20D. The exposure was 20 seconds at f/1.8, ISO 1600. 

Clearing

 
The clouds of earlier tonight (see Friday's image) are slowly clearing out. Three telescopes are busy working in this image obtained earlier tonight. On the left is the Spacewatch 36 inch telescope, in the middle is the Steward Observatory 90 inch Bok telescope and on the right, in the middle of a move, is the KPNO 4-m Mayall telescope. This exposure was with my 24mm lens on my Canon 20D, the exposure was 30 seconds at f/1.8, ISO 1600. 

Sunset tonight

 
It was a pretty sunset tonight from Kitt Peak -- if you are not an astronomer, that is. Too many clouds. Hopefully it will clear later. This exposure was taken with my 24mm lens on my 20D, the exposure was 1/320 second at f/8, ISO 1600. 

twilight at the Student Union

 
This is the north entrance to the Student Union. A cloudy twilight and fading light combined with artificial lighting makes this scene more interesting than normal. This image was taken with the kit lens on my 20D set to 18mm focal length. The exposure was 1/60 seconds at f/4.5, ISO 1600. 

Can you see Venus?

 
Venus is just visible in this image taken the evening of November 11, just after sunset. Silhouetted Saguaro and fading twilight and other desert plants abound. This was taken with the kit lens attached to my 20D set to 18mm focal length. The exposure was 1/5 second at f/8, ISO 400. BTW, Venus is at the center of the frame left to right and about 1/3 of the way from the top of the frame below the top of the tall Saguaro on the right. Be sure to click on the frame to see the higher resolution version in order to see Venus. 

Sunset on Golden Gate Mountain

 
Golden Gate Mountain is in the Tucson Mountains not far from Gates Pass (the best place around town to watch a sunset). This image was taken on November 11. This image was taken with the kit lens attached to my 20D set to 55mm focal length. The exposure was 1/60 seconds at f/8, ISO 400. 

Saguaro

 
The original image of Sepia Moon. This image was taken on November 11 just after sunset. This image was taken with my 24mm lens on my 20D. The exposure was 1/3 seconds at f/8, ISO 400. 

Predawn, Kitt Peak

 
This pre-sunrise image was taken on November 2 from Kitt Peak. On the right is the McMath Solar Telescope and in the distance are the Santa Rita mountains which include Mt. Hopkins, home of the Whipple Observatory and the MMT telescope. This exposure was taken with my 24mm lens on my 20D. The exposure was 1/250 seconds at f/2, ISO 200. 

Band Day

 
Saturday November 19 was the 52nd annual Band Day at the University of Arizona in which bands from the area including the Tucson area and Phoenix as well as a band from Las Vegas and another from New Mexico competed. This is the Tucson High band performing their show which earned an Excellent. This image was taken with the kit lens on my Canon 20D set to a focal length of 28mm. The exposure was 1/320 seconds at f/8, ISO 100. 

Visiting the Moon again...

 
The Moon is a couple days past full, so the terminator is creeping across the face as sun sets on the near side of our nearest neighbor. This image was taken this evening, November 18. My 70-300mm zoom is set to 300mm on my Canon 20D. The exposure was 1/100 seconds at f/8, ISO 100.
 

The Moon & Mars

 
This image is was taken just after sunset on November 14 as the Moon and Mars rose over the UofA campus. This image was taken with my 18-55mm kit lens attached to my Canon 20D. The lens was set to 18mm focal length and the exposure was 1/15 second at f/3.5, ISO 1600. The image is a bit soft as it was handheld. 

A day past full Moon

 
Stuck on our nearest celestial neighbor, the Moon, this view was taken tonight, November 16 local time about a day past full Moon. You can see the terminator, this time the location evening sunset on the Moon on the western side of Luna. This exposure was taken with my 70-300mm zoom at 300mm focal length on my Canon 20D. The exposure was 1/400 seconds at f/8, ISO 100. 

Almost Full Moon

 
The Moon was nearly full last night. Compare this image to the one from yesterday. The Moon and Mars were only a few degrees apart last night as well - an alignment of the two places I most wanted to explore as I grew up. This image was taken with my 70-300mm zoom at 300mm focal length. The exposure was 1/200 seconds at f/8, ISO 100. 

Tonights Moon

 
The Moon is approaching full, but not quite there yet. Aristarchus is the bright white spot in the upper left part of the Moon near the terminator where the shadow is. Other prominant craters are the rayed Tycho at bottom and Copernicus near center. All 6 Apollo landing sites are in sunlight. Where will the next humans land on its face? This image was obtained on November 13 (local time) with my 70-300mm zoom at 300mm focal length on my Canon 20D. The exposure was 1/400 seconds at f/8, ISO 200. 

Game Time

 
The opening kickoff is moments away as Arizona Wildcat defensive back Darrell Brooks runs into the endzone to fire up the crowd. This exposure is with my 70-300mm zoom on my Canon 20D at a focal length of 300mm. The exposure was 1/1000 second at f/7.1, ISO 400. 

Saguaro Moon

 
THis sepia toned image of a Saguaro Cactus with the Moon in the backgrond was taken November 11 with a 24mm lens on my Canon 20D. The exposure was 1/3 seconds at f/8, ISO 400. 

Teapots, Moons and Planets

 
This image from November 4 was taken from Kitt Peak. The evening twilight is fading and the WIYN telescope is at far left in the twilight and moonlight. Sagitarius the teapot appears to be pouring a steamy liquid that includes Venus and the Moon, with the steamy Milky Way rising above. This image was taken with a 24mm lens attached to my Canon 20D. The exposure was 10 seconds at f/1.8, ISO 1600. 

Mars, Pleiades, 90 inch and a meteor

 
This image was taken on November 4 while I waited for the high wind to die down (it never did that night....). The dome in the foreground is that of the Steward Observatory 90 inch telescope on Kitt Peak. Mars is the bright object at upper right. Taurus and the Pleiades (M-45) appear just above the dome and a meteor flashed through the field just right of the dome. This image was obtained with a 24mm lens attached to my Canon 20D. The exposure was 25 seconds at f/1.8, ISO 1600. 

Fire alarm at the 4-m

 
The night of November 3 on Kitt Peak started with a commotion. The fire alarms sounded all over the mountain top and as I went outside to check, the lights were on in the 4-m building, lighting up the whole north end of the mountain. They had flashing red lights and a few vehicles driving around to determine what the problem was. Apparently it was a false alarm caused by a flakey smoke detector. This image shows the 4-m with bright lights, the building lit in red emergency flashing lights; below it is the Steward Observatory 90 inch telescope and on the left is the Spacewatch 0.9-m telescope. The exposure was 10 seconds at f/1.8, ISO 1600 with a 24mm lens attached to my Canon 20D. 

Moonset at the 1.8-m

 

The Spacewatch 1.8-m telescope is bathed in light from the setting Moon in this image taken in the early evening on November 4. The Kitt Peak 4-m Mayall telescope is in the background on the right. This image was taken with my 24mm lens on my Canon 20D. The exposure was 20 seconds at f/1.8, ISO 1600. 

The Moon

 

The Moon tonight is about a day short of first quarter. This exposure was taken with my 70-300mm zoom lens at 300mm focal length. The exposure was 1/125 second at f/11, ISO 400. The image was cropped & sharpened in Picassa. 

Sunset on the Space Station

 

This image of the International Space Station (ISS) was taken on the evening of October 30 from Kitt Peak. You can see the trail of the station fading into the redish color of sunset as it moves to the right in the image. The start of the trail on the left has a bit of wobble in it, probably due to either wind or slight motion of the camera and is reflected in the slight mis-shapen star images. This image was taken with my 24mm lens on my 20D, the exposure was 30 seconds at f/1.8, ISO 1600.